THE METALFORMING INDUSTRY IS ACTIVELY SEEKING METHODS TO ANALYZE THE MATERIAL FLOW DURING PRODUCTION PROCESSES. ACCURATE COMPUTER MODELLING WOULD PROVIDE AN EFFICIENT SCIENTIFIC BASIS FOR PROCESS DESIGN. TWO-DIMENSIONAL FINITE-ELEMENT ANALYSIS HAS BEEN USED TO SUCCESSFULLY MODEL SEVERAL METALFORMING PROBLEMS, BUT IS INCAPABLE, BECAUSE OF ITS TWO-DIMENSIONAL NATURE, OF MODELLING SOME VERY IMPORTANTPHENOMENA. THREE-DIMENSIONAL METALFORMING COMPUTER CODES CURRENTLY UNDER DEVELOPMENT HAVE TWO SHORTCOMINGS: COLOSSAL COMPUTER-MEMORY AND CPU-TIME REQUIREMENTS, AND LIMITATION TOA STATIC OR QUASI-STATIC FORMULATION. WE PROPOSE TO MODIFY THE EPIC-3 FINITE-ELEMENT COMPUTER CODETO PRODUCE AN EFFICIENT, GENERAL-PURPOSE, 3-D, FINITE-ELEMENT COMPUTER CODE FOR ANALYSIS OF METALFORMING PROBLEMS EPIC-3 WAS ORIGINALLY DEVELOPMENT TO SIMULATE THE DYNAMIC RESPONSE OF SOLID MATERIALS SUBJECTED TO INTENSE LOADS, SO HIGH-STRAIN-RATE METALFORMING PROBLEMS SHOULD BE MORE EASILY SOLVEABLE. IN ADDITON, EPIC-3'S EFFICIENT COMPUTATIONAL APPROACH REQUIRES SIGNIFICANTLY LESS COMPUTER RESOURCES. IN PHASE I, EPIC-3 WILL BE MODIFIED, AND ITS ACCURACY AND EFFICIENCY WILL BE ASSESSED BY ACTUALLY SOLVING A SELECTED METAL FORMING PROBLEM FOR WHICH THE EXACTSOLUTION IS KNOWN.